1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to heating and cooling systems. More particularly, a method and apparatus is provided for a heating and cooling system with both vapor compression and thermoelectric heating and cooling.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, heating and cooling systems generate heated or cooled air through a vapor compression cycle. A vapor compression cycle is ideal at large loads. However, there is evidence that thermoelectric cooling could be preferable for small loads. This is based on easy modularity of thermoelectric cooling device which offers an increased coefficient of performance (COP) at low loads compared to traditional vapor compression cycles designed for large load operation.
Thermoelectric cooling provides advantages over vapor compression cycles such as low noise operation, higher reliability due to few moving parts and decreased component maintenance, fine tune control of temperature, faster response to temperature control settings, reduced size, and reduced refrigerant usage leading to decreased environmental impact.
Accordingly, a heating and cooling system to maintain an area at a desired temperature including a vapor compression system having a vapor compression cycle and a thermoelectric device may be utilized to provide energy efficient modes of operation where dynamic COP is maximized.